Re: “Doctor suspended for COVID-19 exemptions testifies about letters, faces sanctions” (April 18):

It is a sad reflection on the medical profession’s self-regulation that Dr. Paul Gosselin has been allowed to continue seeing patients after multiple examples of medical misconduct. However, I am writing because of the description in that article of osteopathic training.

I am an M.D., trained in a university, but I was also a program director in a community osteopathic family medicine residency. I can attest to my M.D. training also having a focus on “a holistic approach to patient care, incorporating an examination of related external factors in a patient’s life that go beyond a strict diagnosis and treatment of symptoms with pharmaceuticals.”

This comment is a false contrast between osteopathic (D.O.) and allopathic (M.D.) training in primary care.

Incorporating family history, social history and life experiences was a major part of both my M.D. training and the training of the residents in our D.O. program. In my personal practice, I spent more time with patients, explaining why a prescription was not needed, than in writing prescriptions.

There are great M.D.s and great D.O.s, and both groups have their bad apples. However, the positive comments your article made regarding osteopathic training are just as true for allopaths.

Michael Hudson, M.D.
Brunswick